Capping appliance



March 4, 1930. A. 1. RlssER 1,748,961 I CAPPING APPLIANCE Filed April 25. 1928 5 sheets-sheet l March' 4, 1930. A. 1. RISSER 1,748,961

CAPPING APPLIANCE Filed Aprl25. 1928 Patented Mar'. 4, 1930 'l RIssER, OFcIII'cAsO,y ILLINOIS,

.Y .ARTHUR I.

PATENT oFFlcE p AssIGNoR To U-s BOTTLEIRS MACHINERY l COMPANY, OFNCHIOAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS p l CAIPING APPLIANCE j Applicatie; mea April y25,

My invention concernsmechanisms or machines for applying 4screw-threaded caps to similarly threadedubottles,jars or the like,

ai'itomatically/,and an object of the inven- 6 .tion isA to supplyv anapparatus of this, type vwhich will operateeiliciently, which will discharge any offthe'caps'for ywhich thebottle orjar or itsjequivalent is not'provided, and which is comparatively simple` in structure i 10 'and relatively inexpensive kto manufacture;

g To Apermitthosetrained in this industry* to fullyfjunders'tand theinvention, I have shown a preferred embodiment of the ysanne inthe accompanymg drawings formingaV i l5.y part of this specificatiomand in Vwhich like reference d `characters have been employed 1 f' throughout the severaly views'to designate the same parts 'of the structure. e 1 Y In these .drawings,-`,

2 0 ,l Fig. f1 is asubstantially central, vertical;

section through the appliancefonfline 1-1 of Figure 2;

- Fig.v 2 isa horizontal sectiononline of Fig. I;

25. Y Fig. 3 isa diagrammatic-or developed-'view l ,o of the Vc'ain portion of the machine and the capping-heads associated therewith; v

.Figs 4, and lillustrate a portion of positions during' mechanism in its dilerent 30 l.the capping4 `operation .and

AFig. 7 is aV horizontalsection'on'line 7-47 Y .of Fig. 4, the parts being viewed inthe direction indicated bythe arrows. f

Turning to these draWingS,`-it ein be et;

gserved that the appliance vincludes an upg right,- revoluble shaft 10 and itsaligned, stai tionary extension 11, the yformer being rotatablehin its bearing 12 and' thelattersupported by its bearing 13, the Vupper, 'reduced-diam i 40., eterend L,oi shaftllO' being accommodated in a suitable socket inthe lower -end'of shaft 11. "Shaft is revolved by a'drive-shaftg14 through-bevel-gears- 15 and 16, such shaft having lixed'th'ereto a round support 17 pro--` i 45.ivided'5 with ampluravlityv (eight in the present 192s. `serial Nmmaess.

instance) of semicircularyre'cesses 'or pookets 18, A18, each adapted to accommodate a threaded cap 34.

bevel-gears 27 and-28.

I At its top end, theconstantly-revolving*v shaft "22 has eight, radiating or'outstanding?v arms 29,29 having suit'able,'curved ends 31 f I adapted to slide the caps34 individually inf a curved path over the'top of ya stationaryr` table orledge 32 mounted. on the upperfendf of .the sleeve 33,the caps being deliveredtothe top* surface of such table,` shelfforfsupf ssi port, one ata-time, right sideup, from 'a chute'v l Y 35'ass'ociated'fwith asuitable source Ovt-cap" supply, the endsgzoftherarms sweeping the capsfalong ahead'of "themy until they are re,- moved from thetable by. other partsoi' the 1 machine hereinafter, described.

The vertical, constantly-rotatingshaft 10 v has ia spider 39 pinned thereon, and conse-fr quently rotatable therewith, such spider hav# v ing eight pairs Vof registering, upright bearo u ings 40, 41, each accommodati'n'g a rotating;Ik

through a pinion '43lOcatedJf-between thev spiderl 39'properfand anjupper memberor -portion thereof l45 which is provided with theV bearingfll'.y

-It is, of course,

kunderstood that each .pinf

ion 43 has a drivingvzrelation with "itsr shaft 85M' y 42, as byga slot andvkeyway-,theshafu 'hows l ever,v being capable of reciprocation through the pinion. f 1

lThe eight panic-msV la ,mesh with a suitably', Y supported,'stationary, large gear 44'soJthatjJ--gof"fy as the pinions travel around the axis of such gear they are revolved about their own axes.

Each shaft 42 and its hollow extensionshaft 54, the two being screwed together, are supplied with a bearing member 46, mounted on the lower end of a slide 47, arranged to reciprocate on the spider and vequipped with an operating roller 48 positioned and arranged to travel between a pair of stationary cam-bars 49, 5l mounted on a plurality of supports 52 depending from a spider 53 adjustably supported, by suitable mechanism not necessary to describe, on the shaft l1.

Shaft 54, at its lower end, carries, or has integral therewith, a. head or disc 55 forming one element of a suitable friction-clutch having a friction-disc 56 between the under face of the part 55 and the top, flat surface of a skeleton member 57 carryinga cappinghead 58.

To hold such head and its associated parts down to their work, a coiled spring 59 encircles the shaft 54 and presses at its upper end against a collar 61 keyed to and rotatable with the shaft 54, and located just below the bearing 46, the spring bearing at its lower end against the hub of the head 55, the descent of the related, vertically-movable part-s being limited by a collar 62 on the shaft 42,` and designed, when the shafts have reached their lowermost limit, to engage a ball-bear in 63 resting on the top of the element 46, it being understood that the shaft 54 is slidable in each of the members 6l and 63.

The lower opening 64 of the capping-head 58 has a ring 65 fixed therein and provided with a central, iaring mouth with a roughened or corrugated surface, whereby it may firmly and securely grasp the cap'and turn it during itsapplication tothe bottle-necksV Y Internally, each head 58 slidingly accom-V modates a tube 66 having a lower, flaring mouth, as shown in Fig. 4, and normally held pressed down by a`coiled kspring 67 interposed between the upper end of the tube and a centrally-apertured disc-'68 in the lower end of the hollow shaft 54', the .downward movement of the tubular member being limited by an external enlargement 69 thereon designed to contact with the top surface of the ring 65, as shown in Fig. 5.

The lower portion of the chamber within the hollow shaft 54 is connected, through a passage 71 and a hose 2, with a porter cavity 73 in the upper surface of the collar 6l, and l on the neck.

which is in constant communication, during the rotation of the shaft 54, with an annular channel 74 in the under surface of thelstai tionary element 46. l

Each groove 74, by means ofa. passage 7 5 and an individual hose 76, is connected to a corresponding aperture 77 extended throughV the spider or support 39, so that during portion of the rotation of theelement 39 it will be in operative association with a groove 78 in the bottom of a stationary disc 79 positioned just below the gear 44, such arcuate or curved channel 7 8 extending only part way around the axis of the shafts 10 and ll, as is depicted in Fig. 2.

Such groove or channel 78 is constantly subjected to a suitable degree of suction by means of a hose 8l connected to such a source of suction and joined to a'passage 82 extended through the parts 79 and 44.

The operation of the mechanism takes place practically as follows: Y Y K Assuming that, by hand, or by suitable, automatic feeding means, the uncapped, screw threaded bottles Aare delivered into the compartments 18 of the support 17? `and are revolvedthereby around the axis of the shaft l0 at a uniform, uninterrupted speed, and

register with the bottles beneath them, suchV heads rotating continuously abouttheirown axes, when any particular cap, during its snding or sweeping travel on'the support 32,

comes into alignment or register with the' correspondingV bottle, which passes beneath the cap table,as shown in Fig. 1, the suction will have been applied, through the stated connections, to the corresponding tube 66, and the correlated capping-head will havebeen caused toV descend by the cam-bars to iit over the cap, as shown in Fig. 4, the sliding tube 66 being pushed' up against the action of its spring 67,l but assuring an etlicient engagement of its 'lower .end with the cap.V

As the cappinghead, during its unvarying f rotation about the axis of shaft l0, sweeps such cap from its support 32, the cap will be held suspended just below the head by the act-ion of the suction in tube 62 in the relation indicated in Fig. 5, the descent of the tube and cap, of course, being limited or restricted by the engagement of the circular rib 69 with the'top face ,of the ring 65.

Shortly thereafter, the revolving cappinghead and its cap move down and screw the cap on to the neck of the bottle beneath, the spring being somewhat compressed, as shown in Fig. 6, and the tube 66 receding into the head, whereby the cap isv at iirst lightly applied to the neck, and then is forcibly revolved bythe ring 65, which screws it firmly As soonfas the cap is fully screwed home on such neck so that it cannot turn any more, sufiicient resistance to such kturning action will have been created to cause the frictionclutch 55, 56, 57 to slip, thus'avoiding any exzcessive turning action on the cap:

passes beyond the end of the suction channel- 7 8 thesuction terminates, so that if, for any reason, any oi"` the pockets 18 does not receive itsfbottle, the correlated cap will be held by the suction in the capping-head until the suction ends, whereupon, the vcap being no longer heldl or supported by the suction, will drop Y vout of the capping-head,- so vthat thejlatter will be ready to receive 'another cap yat the proper moment. Of course, there are several bottles undergoing simultaneously different phases of the f l capping operation, whereby the machine not only performs its work eiiiciently, but it also has relativelyhigh capacity.

The invention, as those skilled in this' art vwill understand, and as den'ed by the-appended claims,y is not limited and restricted to the exact details vof structure shown and described, and many inore or less radical changes may be incorporated ing'the mechanism Vwithout departure fromthe heart and essence of the invention and without the loss of any of its substantial benefits.

` I claim:

. l. In a capping-appliance, the combinationof a stationary table, a revoluble support l adapted to 'receive screw-threaded containers,

capping-heads as. thel latter pass over said f.

table, mea ns recedably mounted in said capf ping-heads andv vadapted to be subjected to suction to retain thecaps therein during their travel after leaving the table until they descend` to'their containers,.means to control*` the suction exerted Vby said recedable means to release any cap from its head forv whichno correspondingcontainer is presentto permit such head to receiveanother cap from the table, and means in each' capping-head to grasp its cap-'suiiiciently firmly to screw` it'on Y to the correspondingy container, the corresponding recedable means automatically retreating intorthe capping-head during such cap-,screwing operation. v c

2. In a'capping-appliance, lthe combination of a stationary table, [a revoluble support i #adapted to receive screw-threaded containers, a capping-head on saidsupport above, in register with, and slidabletoward and from each container on the support', meansl to 'revolve said support to carry 'said containers in sequence beneath, andthe corresponding cap'- ping-heads above,`-said table, means to rotate 'said capping-heads about their ownk axes,

means toslide said.; capping-heads toward. feed and fromfgtheir containers, means to screw-threaded caps on said table individuallyinto register withl said capping-heads as. theY latter pass over said table, an open-endedl tube, slidable ineachof said capping-heads," means toapply suction intermittently to' said tubes to retain the caps in said heads duringl their travel after, leaving thetable until theydescend to their containers and to releaseany cap from its head for which-no corresponding containeris present to permit such head to receive another cap romthe table, and

Vmeans in each capping-head to grasp its cap sufficiently irmly tofscrew'it on to the corresov s ondino' container the corres ondin slidable tube automatically receding into the cap- -ping-headidurng such cap-screwing operation. Y

3. In a capping-appliance, the combination of, a stationary table, va revoluble support. f

adapted to receive screw-threaded containers,

a capping-head on said supportabove, in register with, and slidable toward and from each such container on thesupport, means to revolve said support constantly to carryvsaid containers in'y sequence beneath, andthe correspondingv capping-headsv above, said table, means to rotate said capping-heads constantly about their own aXes, means to slide said capping-heads toward and'from their containers, means to feed screw-threaded capes on said table` individually into register with said capping-heads as the latter pass over said table, i

an open-ended, downwardlyV spring-pressed tube slidable in each 'of said'capping-heads, Y

means to apply suction Lintermittently to said tubes tok retain the caps in said heads duringv l cap from its head for which noyc'orrespondy their travelai'ter leaving the table until they j descend to their containers and to release any 1o5 ving container is present t-o permit such head f to receiveanother cap from the table, and l means ineach capping-head to grasp vits cap suciently firmly to screw it on to thecorresponding container, the corresponding slidable tube automatically receding into the-V capping-headduringpsuch cap-screwingoperation. Y n

, 4. In acapping-appliance, the combination of a revoluble support adapted to receive screw-threaded containers, a capping-headon said support above, in register with, and slidable toward and from'each container on the support, means to revolve said support to Icarry said containers in sequence beneath, and the corresponding capping-heads above, said table, means to rotate said capping-heads `about their own axes, means `to slidesaid capi e pingheads toward and from their containers, means to feed screw-threaded caps individually into register with said capping-heads, means recedably mounteclin'said cappingheads and adapted to be subjected'to suction to retain thel caps in said heads during a .por-

tion of their travel, means to Qontrol the suction exerted by said recedable means to release any cap from its-head for which no corresponding container is present to permit such head to receive another cap'7 and means in each capping-head to grasp its cap sufficiently rmly to screw it on to the corresponding container7 the corresponding recedable means automatically retreating into the capping-head during such cap-screwngroperation.

In witness whereof I havefhereunto set my4 hand.

ARTHUR I RISSER. 

